Savannah River Site officials reported in March that the site would need about $30 million a year in additional funding over the next several years to deal with aging infrastructure and maintenance needs.
Local officials also reported that site infrastructure is approaching 60 years old - with one third of SRS administrative facilities nearing the half-century mark.
Site manager Dave Moody spoke about the $30 million figure during a recent budget forum hosted by the SRS Community Reuse Organization. Moody said he and Carol Johnson, president and CEO of the site's management and operations contractor, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, have both been preparing reports to determine how much infrastructure needs would cost.
"I'm not through with mine just yet, but Carol's analysis is that we need about $30 million a year, for the foreseeable future, in additional funds to get in front of our backlog of maintenance," Moody said.
Aging infrastructure
SRNS verified the analysis and wrote in a statement that added funding would help upgrade nonsafety infrastructure across the site.
The contractor wrote that examples of upgrades that could be funded include replacement of the electrical power distribution system to several areas of the site, replacement of the site radio communications system, upgrading roadways and roof maintenance.
Rick McLeod, president of the Reuse Organization, said that while the Energy Department recognizes SRS as a location for new initiatives, spending for repairs has declined considerably in lieu of needed funds for direct mission activities.
McLeod added that the $30 million figure is a start, but that tackling the problem over a five- to six-year period is the best approach.
Some of the specific needs McLeod mentioned include the distribution systems noted by SRNS as well as safety-related aging infrastructure issues with H Canyon, tank farms and fire protection water supply systems in A Area. The latter, McLeod said, could put the Savannah River National Lab and other facilities in jeopardy.
Several other needs are outlined in an SRS 10-year site plan released this past year. Those include site telecommunications, the 911 call center systems sitewide and SRS deferred maintenance - work that has not been performed due to a labor shortage or lack of budget - which is currently estimated to have grown to more than $1 billion.
McLeod said the issues could eventually cause an incident similar to the one at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, located in Carlsbad, New Mexico. The plant receives low-radioactive waste shipments for storage from various sites, including SRS, until a February 2014 exposure incident shut the plant down until further notice.
"This deteriorating infrastructure has increasingly resulted in reduced operational capability and higher repair or replacement costs," McLeod said. "Growing corrective and preventive maintenance backlogs increase probability of an incident such as the recent equipment fire at WIPP."
H Canyon needs
David Jameson, president and CEO of the Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce, said there is a concern that downward trends in funding and staffing are moving SRS toward a closure-site status - one that the Department of Energy has repeatedly said is not the case.
Though the focus is waste cleanup and tank closures, Jameson added that there is still a need to keep H Canyon fully operational to process nuclear materials.
H Canyon is the only hardened nuclear chemical separations plant still in operation in the United States. Among other things, the facility takes nuclear materials such as highly enriched uranium and blends them down to be used for fuel. H Canyon is used in DOE's waste cleanup missions and is planned to be used in MOX missions, as well.
Because of its various functions, the facility is in line to process Canadian shipments of highly enriched uranium with a possibility to also receive foreign materials from Japan and Germany for processing. However, DOE officials reported in October that missions at the facility may slow down if changes in infrastructure or funding are not made.
Despite the warning, the 2016 fiscal year DOE budget request for spent nuclear fuel stabilization and disposition at SRS, which includes some H Canyon activities, is $34.4 million - a decrease of $8.7 million from current funding levels.
"A long-term stable budget for all SRS missions is critical. A stable budget at adequate levels is preferred over the recent up-and-down type budgets," Jameson said.
One of the suggestions to effectively continue missions at H Canyon is the purchase of a third dissolver, a tool that accelerates the disposition of radioactive materials currently designated for processing in H Canyon. DOE plans to add the dissolver in 2016.
Officials said the cost to procure and install the dissolver and associated equipment is estimated to be between $10 million and $15 million and would take two to three years to install after the funds are made available.
McLeod added that H Canyon and other facilities have seen several "work arounds" instead of true maintenance. The result, he said, has been expensive and inefficient utilization of resources and increased costs of future capital infrastructure investment.
"With the age of many SRS facilities, including H Canyon, 'off the shelf' spare parts do not exist, and SRS is forced to go to eBay or abandoned industrial facilities of the same era for replacement parts," McLeod said.
Funding options
Moody said the preferred method of funding would be a separate funding scope of about $30 million over the next several years to get SRS infrastructure up to date.
"If there's a recognition of the need since we will be continuing managing liquid waste and other materials, an investment in infrastructure would be a pretty good thing to do," he said.
If that separate funding stream doesn't come to fruition, Moody said it may mean cutting into operational funds and losing funding for other missions.
"That means if we can't do something else, then we can't do something else," he said.
To keep the site operating at an optimal rate, McLeod and Jameson said a separate funding stream is critical.
"A separate line item is required at approximately $30 million, and continuing at this level for at least five years - for infrastructure and deferred maintenance," Jameson said.
McLeod added, "This lack of priority and funding for infrastructure, if not addressed, could dampen the SRS's ability to attract new missions and meet national challenges."
Derrek Asberry is the SRS beat reporter with the Aiken Standard. He joined the paper in June 2013. He is originally from Vidalia, Ga., and a graduate of Georgia Southern University. Follow him on Twitter @DerrekAsberry.